The meaning of X
by Lyz Shadow
Summary: A new team of mutants is formed in Xavier's School For Gifted Children, lead by Nightcrawler and Dusk *OC* . But do they really understand what it means to mutants, and what it takes to be X-men? Rating will go up. on temporary hiatus
1. Four Years Earlier

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men or any related characters. I do own Dusk and Katie (girl who narrates first part of prologue), and the mutant research centers concept.**_

_**Note: This story revolves around Katie, the character who tells the first part of the prologue. She's an original character with no relations to any other lycanthropes in the comics or the show. Dusk is another original character, and her origin and the meaning of mutant research centers will be explained later. This is the prologue so might be a little weird and confusing. You'll understand it better later on in the story.**_

_**There's also some out-of-character-ness in this, so I'm sorry but please don't tell me it's out of character, because I know.**_

_**Please Review, but please, no flames.**_

PROLOGUE: Four Years Earlier

I opened my eyes, but saw nothing. This was wrong. Just wrong. Normally I could always see, even in the dark. Had they… blinded me?

I felt sick to the stomach at the thought, and held my hand in front of my face, trying to get some sort of perception.

I sighed with relief when the image of my hand, with its many scars, appeared in my line of vision. But if I could see that, and nothing else, where was I?

My eyes took a long time to adjust; there was almost absolutely no light. But then I realised I was in a room with pure black walls, floor and ceiling. Ah, that explained it. I shivered silently as I suddenly wondered if I was alone in the room.

"Hello?" I called out, but nothing moved. I closed my eyes and listened, but I could only hear my own breathing, and my own heartbeat. I opened them again and looked fearfully around, but there was nothing to see. I was alone.

I shivered, even though the temperature was perfectly normal. Where was I now? What were they going to do to me this time?

Suddenly, I heard something. I froze, and sat there, perfectly still, listening. Nothing. I relaxed again, when I heard a snatch of sound, like voices yelling, then an explosion. I heard someone yell "Dawn!"; people were screaming, but I could barely hear them. Everything was distant, far away. I kept listening.

A girl, louder then the other voices, yelled out to someone for help. There was a murmuring, which I wondered why I could hear when I realised: it was coming from just out side my cell. Suddenly, there was a bamphing sound, and someone appeared in the middle of the room. I stared at him. Were my eyes messed up after all or was he… Blue?

I backed up against the wall and stared at him. Was he here to hurt me? What was going on? I growled warningly.

"Sh, calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," the blue boy whispered. He had an accent; I couldn't place what it was. He held out a hand and I realised he only had three fingers on each hand. He was different, like me.

I smiled shakily, and reach out a hand. He took hold of it and smiled back.

"Okay, kid, just stay calm. I'm going to get you out of here, okay?"

_Bamph!_

I blinked my eyes a few times to get adjusted to the light, but a second later a girl yelled,

"Kurt! Get her out of here!"

_Bamph!_

"What? Where…?" We were in a… I think it was some sort of ship, like a plane or something. I'd been in one before, that time in a crate. Now I was leaning against the wall, shocked from the sudden… movement? Or…something else?

The boy held a small device up to his face.

"All clear, Dusk. She's in the jet, with the other one. Over"

A voice came back through the device, a girl's voice, the same as the one who had yelled before.

"Understood, Nightcrawler. Iceman and I will be back in a second. Dusk out."

I tried to connect the name, Nightcrawler, to the blue boy in front of me, but all I came up with was a picture of a glow-worm or something.

And this guy _definitely_ wasn't a glow-worm.

"Hello," he said, turning to me. "My name is Kurt. What's yours?"

He seemed awkward. I was nervous. I had no idea what was going on. I responded quietly, "No entiendo..."

Right then, two other figures appeared in the plane thing. One was a boy who, impossible as it seemed, appeared to be made completely of solid ice. The other was a girl who seemed perfectly normal except she had just _came out of her own shadow_.

"Uh, Dusk," the boy who appeared to be called Kurt, said, "She's speaking Spanish."

The shadow-girl walked right over to me and said, "Hablas ingles?" _Do you speak English?_

"Un poco. Prefiero español." _A little bit. I prefer Spanish._

"Como te llamas?" _What's your name?_

"No tengo nombre." _I don't have a name._

I'd forgotten it, a long time ago. That place didn't have room for names. The shadow-girl gave Kurt a funny, almost sad look over her shoulder.

"Como te llamas?" I asked her suddenly. _What's your name?_

"Me llamo Dusk. Se llama," she indicated over her shoulder to Kurt, "Kurt, o Nightcrawler. Y se llama Iceman o Bobby." She indicated the other boy. She was called Dusk, Kurt was also called Nightcrawler, and the guy with the ice, who was know steadily becoming normal looking, was Bobby, also nicknamed Iceman.

I tried some English.

"Who are you?"

The girl looked startled. "You're Australian?"

I hadn't realised I had an accent. "No lo se. I don't know. I think I was… maybe."

Kurt and Dusk exchanged glances. "We should get them to the Professor." Kurt said gravely.

Dusk nodded. "I told you she'd be messed up. Who knows what the other one'll be like when he wakes up."

Iceman groaned. "We are gonna get in so much trouble."

"We'll take the blame, Bobby." Replied Kurt. He looked at me with concern, then turned to Dusk, "Can you tell her that were leaving?" She nodded, but I understood what he meant. I sat down in a seat and buckled the seat belt. Dusk nodded and took her own seat at the front of the plane. Kurt sat next to her, and, once Bobby was seated in the chair opposite mine, the plane took off.

"I cannot believe that you two did this! Risking everything on a stupid personal vendetta! I'd have thought you'd know better! And stealing the jet…"

As the Professor continued to lecture them, Dusk sat back in her seat. She knew how to handle angry adults, and rule number one was let them rant for a while before explaining/making excuses. She exchanged glances with Kurt, who also knew to let Professor Xavier calm down before getting yourself out of trouble.

Dusk knew, had always known, that she took a more extreme approach to things. But she always did it for the right reasons. While Professor X, or Wheels as she nicknamed him (Logan had come up with it first), called her hatred of so-called mutant research centres a personal vendetta, she had good reasons. That little kid, who couldn't remember where she learned English or even her own name. A year, a month, even a week later, she could've been dead. She'd live a better, happier, and a hell of a lot longer life outside than she ever could have in there. Dusk knew what she'd done was right, and knew the Professor would eventually have to agree with her.

"And you, Kurt! You should have discouraged Dusk from this course of action, not gone with her! I understand Bobby is young and eager, and easily mislead by more experienced students, but you're more experienced than Dusk is! You should have known better than to…"

Wow, thought Kurt, I don't think I've seen the Professor so mad before. But he can't be that angry, he's not calling Dusk by her real name or anything. He probably knows we did the right thing, and just wants to drill the whole "Don't do anything reckless without telling me" into us first.

He looked across at Dusk, who looked totally blank, as usual. She was obviously off in her own little world. Probably preparing one of her famous improvised monologues. If there was anyone who could get out of trouble with Professor X, it was Dusk.

He wondered idly if the kids they had rescued were okay. Also if the boy had woken up yet. Both of them had suffered from serious burns, illnesses, flesh wounds, allergic reactions, and other things he didn't want to think about. How old were they, anyway? About ten, or eleven? How could someone, anyone, do that to a child? Kurt shuddered.

The Professor had stopped yelling and looked at Dusk.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

Dusk just looked at him coldly. The she pulled down the back of her black T-shirt an inch, showing them the end of just one of her hideous scars. Professor Xavier just inhaled softly and turned away.

Dusk turned back to them.

"You think that's right?"

The Professor was silent for a moment, then replied.

"Of course not. Just I'd prefer if you'd give me a chance to deal with this issue politically instead of always doing things alone and by force."

Dusk looked at him coldly. "Political solutions have had their chance, Professor. There is no big answer. But I'm prepared to stop them, even if I have to do it one mutant at a time."

Then she got up and let the room, closing the door firmly behind her.

Charles Xavier sighed.

"She takes this so personally."

"What's not to take personally? They're torturing mutants!"

"I know, Kurt. And I'm glad she's thinking more of saving others than getting her own revenge. But she seems so obsessed with it, refuses help so often…"

"She let me help, Professor. And Iceman. She let all the X-men help if they wanted to."

The Professor looked at the ceiling.

"I hope you're right, Kurt. Also, I wonder how the two mutants you saved are going. They're both down in the medical bay. Could you please go down and check on them?"

Kurt nodded and left, leaving only the smell of brimstone behind him.

Xavier sighed again. Would the human race ever accept mutants with no strings attached?


	2. Present Day

_**Been a while since I updated this. I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with this story, so I tried loads of things before settling on this one. There are a lot of OCs in this story, and it's meant to take place after some form of the Phoenix story arc. But I'll try to make it easy to identify them all. Four years later, the girl who Kurt and Dusk rescued is a fourteen year old student at the Institute and is named Kathryne, Katie for short. Sure, a whole heap of other stuff has changed, but you'll just have to wait for the other chapters to find out about that. Read and Review. Or just review. I like reviews. Seems to be a lot of that around here :P I'm hoping I don't disappoint my current reviewers. We'll meet some more OCs in the next chapter, as well as some characters we all know. I'm thinking about making the Hellfire Club the antagonist later in this story. What do you think?**_

* * *

St John's orphanage, new and improved though it was, was still not her home. She'd been kicked out of over a dozen foster homes, and gone to six different orphanages in twelve years. Her peers and the people at the children's homes generally ignored her. So why, wondered Mr Szasz, would someone be asking to meet her?

He had not denied their request; after all, they might want to adopt her, and then his orphanage would be left in peace. Certainly, the two figures waiting in his office appeared to be a couple, both in their early twenties. They didn't involve in much overt flirting, but they probably thought it would lessen their chances of being able to adopt. Frankly, if it had been any other child, he would have said no up front. The boy – he could hardly be called a man – seemed to have dyed his hair bright blue. The girl was no better; she had numerous scars and a tattoo on her forearm. But Mr Szasz thought Jasmine Eloise Tyril deserved everything she got. The girl misbehaved in class and at the home, and had quite literally blown up a science lab at her last school. No one had been able to prove it was her fault, but Szasz knew it was right up her alley.

An impatient knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and in walked the very topic of his thoughts. Without waiting for a reply, a medium height girl with pale skin had entered. One half of her face was entirely covered by her glossy black hair, but her uncovered eye focused momentarily on the two strangers, took in all the information that it could, then turned to the man at the desk.

"Who are they?" Her amber gaze zoned in on the paperwork on the desk. "You have got to be kidding me."

Szasz ignored her comment. "Mr Wagner and Ms…" he trailed off and raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"Logan," she supplied quickly, earning, Jasmine noticed, a quirked eyebrow from the one introduced as Mr Wagner, "Miss."

"Mr Wagner and Miss Logan wish to speak with you in private." He got no response from Jasmine but a one-eyed glare. "I'll leave you three to talk then." He left, feeling thoroughly disheartened. No one could possibly want to have to tolerate that every day. He would likely have Jasmine terrorising his orphanage for the rest of his life.

"Vhat vould you like us to call you?" asked the blue haired guy tentatively. His accent, as far as the girl could tell, was German, though he seemed to have good English.

"Most people just call me Jas," she replied. "And I'm meant to call you Mr Wagner and Miss Logan, right?"

"That's Vagner," corrected the man. "And she's Dusk."

"Dusk? Kinda weird girl's name, don't you think?"

"It's what everybody calls me," deadpanned Dusk, speaking for the first time. Jas noted she had a slight Australian accent. "Before you ask, we're not planning to adopt you. We're teachers at a special boarding school. The school board has decided to enrol you–"

"Hang on," she exclaimed, holding up her hands to stop the woman continuing. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Of course. That's what this meeting is about."

"So, what if I don't want to go to this school?"

"You'd rather stay here?" Her gaze flickered towards the closed door, indicating Mr Szasz, before darting back to focus on Jasmine's response.

"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't," she retorted pointedly, but the older girl caught the momentary look of doubt in her eyes.

"Look," interrupted Wagner. "The school is not a devil at all. And if you decide after a few days that you don't like it, then you can go back here."

Jas considered it for a moment. Her mind was working overtime as she began to feel the beginnings of a plan forming. Unfortunately, for it to work properly she'd have to ask an awkward question. "Uh, when would I be, um, you know, leaving?"

"Tomorrow," replied Mr 'Vagner'. He seemed nervous, and didn't pick up on her sudden change of tone, but Dusk, whose bright cobalt eyes had instantly focused on Jasmine as soon as she changed her tone, clearly knew something was up. But she said nothing.

"So you need an answer now?" Jas asked bluntly, getting back to herself. They nodded.

"Fine," she said, much to the two adults' surprise. "I'll go, if you're sure you haven't got the wrong person.

The German guy gave his Australian friend a questioning look. She nodded almost imperceptibly, and answered, "Very sure. I advise you use the rest of the afternoon to pack." She stuck out her hand for the younger girl to shake. Jas reluctantly took it. "It's been a pleasure to meet you," she said, with a knowing grin. Jas knew there had to be more to this young woman than met the eye. But she couldn't think of any way she'd be able to stop her doing what she planned to do. So she shook hands with the German guy, who wore gloves, and left.

* * *

Kurt turned to Dusk. "Are you sure she's one of us?"

Dusk nodded. "That's probably why she's so blunt. She's terrified someone's going hunt her down."

The two mutants were sitting in a black van, hidden outside the orphanage. Dusk knew Jasmine would never agree that easily without a back-up plan.

Kurt nodded grudgingly. He hadn't thought the girl seemed like a mutant, but he had complete faith in Dusk and her ability to identify mutants who looked like ordinary humans. "Any idea vhat her powers are?"

"Telekinesis," came a voice from the back of the van. "She was moving the fan with her powers while you talked."

Dusk twisted in her seat to look at the lycanthrope in the back. "Katie?"

"Yes?"

"Were you spying on us?"

Katie gave her a "Would I do that?" look, widening her pale aqua eyes. Dusk didn't buy it, as per usual.

"Remind me again why we let you come with us," the shadow mutant said, rolling her eyes.

"Um, so I wouldn't blow up the school while you were gone?"

"Because you said you'd _behave_." Dusk retorted. "So stick to your word."

Kurt grinned happily at the two girls' bickering. Fourteen-year-old Katie had a talent for driving anyone and everyone up the wall, and Dusk was no exception.

"Getting back on track," the fuzzy mutant said, "you zaid she vaz a telekinetic?"

Dusk nodded. "I noticed the fan too. It had a different speed depending on her mood. It wasn't even on."

"Couldn't zat mean wind powvers?" Kurt wasn't very keen on having another telekinetic around, given what happened to the last one.

Dusk shook her head. "I don't think so, Kurt. You don't have to worry, she's not very powerful."

Kurt calmed down, and the three mutants sat there discussing the new mutant for a few hours, when, at around half past midnight, they heard a disturbance from the orphanage.

"Vhat's that? Did zey catch her leaving or somezing?" Dusk shook her head wordlessly. Katie had shifted fluidly into her wolf form, and cocked her head to one side, listening hard.

"Mutant haters," she said suddenly, human again. "Someone saw her using her powers."

"Crap," exclaimed Dusk. "Kurt?"

The German mutant grabbed her hand and ported them into the orphanage.

* * *

"You thought you could pass off as human, did ya, mutie?" snarled the thug who was holding her about a foot off the ground by her neck. Jasmine felt her spine was going to break trying to support her full body weight. Still, showing fear wasn't really her department. Instead, she sneered right back at him.

"I look more like one than you do, slug spawn," she retorted, calling him the first insult that came to mind. It didn't really matter what she said, it just had to get him mad. Otherwise the only words she'd have to worry about would be the engraving on her tombstone.

'Slug spawn' seemed to work fine though, as he let go of her neck and tried to throw her into the wall. She caught herself with her mind, not bothering to avoid using her powers now. She had been going to run away anyway, so she didn't need to bother with innocence. She sent a chair flying at the one with a bat, but even the thug's shocked face wasn't worth being in this stupid situation. Her roommate, a relatively timid girl named Sara, had seen Jas using her… ability, she supposed was the best thing to call it, to pack her bags quickly, and had told one of the other 'inmates', as was the nickname for kids at the orphanage, who just happened to have connections to the mutant hating "Friends Of Humanity". _Is it just me_, Jas mused silently, _or do they not seem very friendly?_

There were about ten or eleven various-dangerous-object-wielding losers squeezed into the medium sized room she shared with (the traitorous) Sara. It would be a reasonable size, she supposed, if one kept it clean, which neither she nor her (backstabbing) roommate did. So despite all of Jasmine's property being packed up, they were still fighting in a relatively messy space.

"Mutie!" screeched one of the girls as she tripped over a doona, staring at Jasmine with wide eyes. This one was a bit slow on the uptake, apparently. Jas filled her in by sending her flying out the door.

_That's the way, kid. Take them out one at a time. No need to strain yourself._

Ever since the girl had discovered her fledging telekinesis, she'd had to make sure she never over expended herself. She had nearly ended up in a coma the first time, and didn't really want to try it again. Still, it looked like she might end up comatose, or worse, despite her restraint; the F.O.H. members were closing in. One propelled his dangerous object, an eight-inch knife, at her. Before she could react, it was planted in her shin.

_Ignore it, ignore it_, she told herself. Still, it caused her to fall to her knees for a second, and the leader of the gang used the opportunity to smash her in the back with a leg off the chair she'd thrown at him. She tried to levitate herself out of harm's way, but one of the other swatted her back down with the barrel of his rifle. Yes, rifle. He'd run out of ammunition a few minutes ago, uselessly shooting into her (invisible) telekinetic shield, and so had taken to using as a club, mindless thug style. Anyway, it hurt. A lot. Jas' vision fuzzed over as the owner of the knife removed it from her leg and prepared to stab her again, this time somewhere a little more lethal.

* * *

"Hey, Ugly!" Instinctively, Greg turned at the sound of his 'real' name.

A girl stood in the doorway, in the process of knocking out Alex and holding off Hamish with a dark cloudy substance. A mutant, for sure. Just in case he was in any doubt about what she was and why she was there, she said, smirking, "Something you should know about us mutants–" she sank into her shadow, having successfully incapacitated Alex and Hamish, "–you mess with one of us," she continued, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him away from the targeted mutant, "You mess with all of us," she concluded, clapping him on the temples. Unconsciousness was immediate.

A boy with blue hair teleported all over the place, knocking out the remaining teens. A wolf rushed in, and quickly morphed into a human girl with blue eyes and chestnut hair.

"The police are coming," the wolf girl gasped. "Is she okay?"

The black hair mutant looked up in shock from her place on the floor. She blinked several times before she recognised her saviours.

"I guess I really might fit in at this school of yours," she said with as small smile.

"Totally," said the wolf girl happily. "But we've got to get out of here first."

The shadow mutant nodded. "Kurt, can you take Jasmine?"

He nodded shortly, grabbing the telepath's hand and saying, "Hold on." Then he was gone, dark blue smoke announcing his departure.

The woman looked at the wolf girl as the sounds of sirens came to her ears. "Let's leave. And stealthily this time," she warned. The lycanthrope grinned, showing suitably pointed teeth.

"I'm serious. No scaring the cops."

"Fine. You're no fun."

And with that, the pair slipped out the window and disappeared into the night.

* * *

Review, please!

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